The Inquisitor arrived at the institution.
Two people reported to the Imperial Palace upon their arrival.
With just two people, they could take on a decent battalion.
I wondered why such guys had come and upon reviewing the report, it went like this:
– They plan to oversee the interrogation of the captured Asylum believers and their transport to the Papal Palace.
It was quite a convincing reason.
Except for the fact that usually, such matters don’t involve the likes of an Inquisitor moving around.
“There wasn’t really anything else said. By now, the Asylum believers should be in their prison.”
“······.”
Aria’s touch gently landed on my shoulder.
Wondering what she was doing, I turned to see Aria retracting her hand as she cleared her throat.
I closed the report and stood up.
“It seems those guys might be scheming something.”
“I share your thoughts.”
“Your Excellency, please grant me one permission.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Bowing my head, I noticed Aria tilting hers.
It wasn’t something I could decide on my own.
Even though it was all just a facade, being in a high position meant I had to consult Aria on such significant matters first.
“If a confrontation with the Inquisitor arises, can we kill them?”
“Do you have some grudge against the Inquisitor…?”
“I misspoke. I meant to ask if we could kill them in unavoidable circumstances. Of course, if they surrender, I wouldn’t think to go that far.”
The fact that the Inquisitor came at this time must signal some political message.
Aria had completely ignored the traditionally passed-down coronation ceremony and crowned herself.
There was a high possibility this was a show of force.
Of course, it would be nice if they simply displayed such force and returned…
But we had to be prepared for any unexpected situations.
Like if the Inquisitor did something foolish that would require us to suppress them by force.
“Before I grant permission, I need to ask one thing.”
“Please ask anything.”
“For what do you fight? Tell me what you hold most dear.”
“Of course, I fight for your Excellency. Nothing is more important than your safety and the peace of the Empire.”
“I know well of your loyalty. So rather than those honeyed words, speak your true feelings.”
“······.”
Aria pressed me with a mysterious expression.
If it were another monarch, the moment I spoke honestly, my head would have rolled.
But this was Aria.
An overhuman with the ability to differentiate flattery from reason, possessing a mental strength that surpassed that of mere mortals.
With someone like Aria, sharing a sincere answer wouldn’t offend her.
In fact, if I were to flatter her here, she would be genuinely angry.
“The peace of the continent.”
“The peace of the continent? Does that mean, if the Empire must fall for the sake of the continent’s survival, you would sell out the Empire?”
“If there are no other commands from your Excellency, yes. That’s my thought.”
“Ha ha ha ha! You’ve truly lost it!”
Aria burst into a fit of laughter, holding her belly.
Thinking I had made a mistake, I was tense, but Aria wiped her tears and resumed speaking.
“Alright. In unavoidable circumstances, I will permit combat with the Inquisitor with the presumption of killing them. When you engage in such combat, it will be the time when the Inquisitor threatens the peace of the continent. Am I wrong?”
“You are correct.”
I felt grateful for Aria’s calm insight.
From a third-person perspective, I was making an absurd request without context.
Yet Aria had grasped my intentions and motivations without needing to ask a single question.
“So, do you think you can win against two Inquisitors?”
“That… I haven’t thought that far.”
“Are you seriously planning to throw yourself into battle without caring for your own life? For the sake of the continent, you’re prepared to sacrifice yourself? Ha.”
“······.”
Under Aria’s mocking tone, I lowered my head again.
If the continent were to fall, I wouldn’t get to see a proper ending.
Aria wouldn’t understand that.
She wouldn’t grasp that my final chance in life was to witness the correct ending.
If that opportunity slipped away, I wouldn’t even find meaning in living anymore, something Aria could never grasp.
“Indeed. With that answer, I now seem to know your identity.”
“Your Excellency?”
“You are no inhabitant of this world.”
“······!”
Could she have seen through everything up to this point?
I flinched, examining Aria’s face, which held a confident grin as she looked up at me.
“How did you…?”
“It’s obvious. You’ve acted as if you had multiple lives. Everything you’ve done has also gone suspiciously well. And considering you don’t care for your own safety or the glory of the Empire, harboring an absurdly grand goal such as the peace of the continent, there can only be one answer: you have come from the future. It reminds me of tales from ancient texts about those who repeatedly regress indefinitely. You must be one of them, am I wrong?”
“······.”
The progression seemed plausible.
However, the final deduction slightly misaligned, resulting in a failure.
But I had no intention of correcting her.
If Aria believed I genuinely came from the future, then it would make all my judgments seem correct to her.
“You’re not wrong. You’re accurate, Your Excellency.”
“Hmm. But there’s something unsettling. Your ready acknowledgment makes me uneasy.”
“······.”
Despite everything, Aria’s instincts were keen.
Had I made a slight verbal misstep, she might have uncovered the truth of this world.
I would have to be more cautious around Aria from now on.
“You’ve been silent all this time, which irks me, but since it’s for the greater good, I won’t hold it against you. However, now you can speak: for what reason will you kill the Inquisitor?”
“I cannot say. This cycle has diverged significantly from the last… But it’s only for the sake of preparing for potential possibilities.”
“Hmph. You seem rather useless. Then answer this question: how many times have I died in the future you’ve visited?”
That was quite an annoying question.
I had to come up with a setting on the spot for how many times I had regressed and establish a number.
If I answered here and later forget that number, I would be caught lying flat out.
So it was better to answer as simply as possible.
“Your Excellency has died every time I have seen the future.”
“······.”
In the original story, Aria dies.
I answered based on applying that result to every cycle.
*
“Ugh! This is so ridiculous!”
*Thud thud thud thud!*
Emilia flung herself onto her flat bed, burying her face into the pillow and kicking her feet.
Then she took deep breaths, exhaling again as if she were losing her mind.
She was thinking about what had happened yesterday.
Thinking that the room was empty since there was no sound, she had been calmly organizing the laundry…
“Ah! Why did it have to happen then!?”
Amongst all that, she could only breathe in the clothes of Schlus for a brief time before unexpectedly running into the Saintess.
She quickly knelt down and gained a promise for silence, of course, since it was the Saintess’s promise, it would surely be kept, but still, it was so embarrassing to have had someone see that scene.
It didn’t happen often, just occasionally when she felt like it.
But smelling it always calmed her mind.
“By the way… what exactly happened between those two?”
With a serious expression, Emilia crumpled the pillow.
Recently, the Saintess Iris had been undeniably acting strangely.
Yet judging by how no bad rumors about the Saintess circulated in society, it seemed like this odd behavior only applied to Schlus.
“I thought it was just a foolish dream…”
Every time Schlus openly displayed his affection, she internally scoffed.
No way would the Saintess ever fall for him.
But looking at Iris’s reaction yesterday, it seemed like she was on the verge of submission.
Perhaps they had crossed over already; they just hadn’t had the confession yet.
Thinking that way, Emilia felt her insides boiling.
“Why did it have to be the Saintess…?”
After all, she was bound to be last, so it shouldn’t have mattered who went first.
Be it the noble’s precious daughter or anyone else…
But why target the one person who absolutely shouldn’t be touched?
Declaring a union with the Saintess would undoubtedly result in chaos.
“Could it be… this perverted bastard is only after forbidden love…?”
It was a reasonable suspicion.
He claimed never to touch minors, yet he promised to marry her first.
And now, the next target was the Saintess, who must uphold her vow of chastity for life.
At this point, she felt justified in thinking so.
He must be a lunatic who only targets high-difficulty opponents, and if successful, moves on to the next high-difficulty target.
Everything started making sense.
Talk of peace in the continent or alliances with the Intelligence Agency was merely excuses.
All that was just a cover for his own lustful desires.
“What a madman…”
How could she fix that insanity?
Perhaps starting a family and having a child could heal him naturally.
Recalling the success she had in drugging him before, Emilia briefly toyed with the idea.
“Ha…”
She couldn’t just go and grasp Schlus’s ankle right now.
That had to be a last resort.
With a sigh, Emilia stood up and began to neatly arrange her bed.
Soon, Schlus would return and try to sleep there.
She had to make it look just like it did before, so he wouldn’t know it had been messed up.
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